Raton, New Mexico
Overview
Raton is a city in Colfax County
Colfax County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*83.8% White*0.5% Black*1.5% Native American*0.4% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.6% Two or more races*10.1% Other races*47.2% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 7,282 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Colfax County
Colfax County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*83.8% White*0.5% Black*1.5% Native American*0.4% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.6% Two or more races*10.1% Other races*47.2% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

. The city is located just south of Raton Pass
Raton Pass
Raton Pass is a mountain pass on the Santa Fe Trail along the Colorado-New Mexico border in the United States. Raton Pass is a federally designated National Historic Landmark...

.
Ratón is the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 word for a mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...

 (literally "small rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...

"). The Raton Range and Raton Peak are located immediately north of the town. The Raton Range is a 75-mile long ridge that extends east from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States...

. Raton Pass
Raton Pass
Raton Pass is a mountain pass on the Santa Fe Trail along the Colorado-New Mexico border in the United States. Raton Pass is a federally designated National Historic Landmark...

 and the Raton Basin
Raton Basin
The Raton Basin is a geologic structural basin in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. It takes its name from Raton Pass and the town of Raton, New Mexico. In extent, the basin is approximately east-west, and north-south, in Huerfano and Las Animas Counties, Colorado, and Colfax County,...

 are also named for the Raton Range.

The post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

 at this location was named Willow Springs from 1877 to 1879, then Otero from 1879 to 1880, and has been named Raton since 1880.
Raton Pass had been used by Spanish explorers and Indians for centuries to cut through the rugged Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

, but the trail was too rough for wagons on the Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...

.

Raton was founded at the site of Willow Springs, a stop on the Santa Fe Trail.
 
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